Do you remember those insurance commercials on TV where getting coverage was "so easy even a caveman can do it?" In the ensuing years, it's gotten even easier I guess which is why perhaps these days a cousin to a Salamander is now the company's spokes amphibian.
I always think of that lizard and caveman when we get to talking about the city budget and municipal governance in general. There's an old saying, 'Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do it,' and for many of us that captures our perspective perfectly.
Admittedly I'm being too sensitive and perhaps I'm only half-listening to the points (not) being made, but the sense of the city I'm getting on social media and radio call-in shows is the people in charge don't have a clue about what "we" really "need" (= want).
Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to matter who is in charge; it can be a different cast but the movie remains the same. And perhaps over-simplified, our thoughts and desires on the current, and/or ANY city budget approved by whatever configuration of the City Council we have can always be characterized as 'everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."
I bring all of this up, not because I'm offering to throw my hat into a political ring but because next Wednesday we're voting to fill a City Council vacancy we've had since January. Perhaps you've seen the lawn signs? Yep, next Wednesday's vote is what that's all about.
Would I have liked to have seen/heard/read interviews and conversations with both of the candidates seeking to fill that vacancy and learn what they view as the challenges as well as opportunities Norwich is facing, or what they see as their priorities should they be elected next Wednesday? Yeah, and ideally, so, too should you. But, as my mom used to say, 'If you don't ask, you don't get.' So I guess, we asked for lawn signs.
Except, the lawn signs I'm most concerned about are the For Sale signs, on houses, apartments, small businesses, you name it. And I confess to being frustrated that we spend so much time around here talking about the past and the good old days. I don't know why so many of us like to look back; that's not the direction we should be heading in.
I could fib and tell you that I don't care for whom you vote, but that's not true. I'm very passionate in my support for one of the candidates but I don't want to poison your well with my unsolicited opinion but rather want to encourage you as strongly as I can to make sure if you are eligible to vote that you cast a ballot.
A very wise man, Gene Nathan, once observed, "Bad officials are elected by good citizens who choose to not vote." I have a slightly abrasive attitude on all of that: if you don't vote, shut up. You had your chance. Next Wednesday you can make your voice heard or you can shrug your shoulders and say it doesn't matter. And if you do that, you'll be correct, but we'll be poorer for your inaction.
You cannot possibly have anything better to do than exercise your right to vote next Wednesday. Norwich, our home, is too important, for you to not find the time to be counted. As we've proven over and over around here, talk is cheap.
But good news! Voting is free and effective.
Go to the polls next Wednesday and prove it.
-bill kenny
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